duke cunningham

Mitchell Wade, the contractor for MZM inc. implicated in the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal, has been ordered by the FEC to pay a $1,000,000 fine for funneling tens of thousands in illegal campaign donations to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) and former Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL).

Neither Goode nor Harris are accused of having known about the illegality of the donations, described here by the FEC:

Pity the process server: thirteen House members were subpoenaed today in connection with the trial of defense contractor Brent Wilkes (the same gentleman whose bribes helped put former Rep. Duke Cunningham behind bars). Several names on the list of thirteen, who are teaming up to fight the subpoena, will be familiar to regular readers of this page.

Congressional earmarks -- those add-ons to spending bills directed by individual Members -- have been the object of scrutiny as of late, and no wonder: Congress made over $5 billion worth in 2005 alone. Do you believe Duke Cunningham was the only one who used earmarks for personal gain?

Following the FBI search of his home, signaling the next level in the investigation of both him and his wife for their ties to Jack Abramoff, Rep. John Doolittle has stepped down from his seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Congratulations are due to Jeff Smith, Susan Schmidt, and James Grimaldi of the Washington Post, Marcus Stern and colleagues at the San Diego Union-Tribune, and Jerry Kammer and colleagues at Copley News Service for winning Pulitzer Prizes today for their incredible reporting during 2005, the year of corruption. The Post trio won the Pulitzer for investigative journalism for their in depth muckraking of Jack Abramoff's web of corruption.